Only 3695 dollars!

[aimeeandbeatles]

this is just antedotcal, so I'm not sure -- but I've heard about older hardware (10-15 years old) that still work today, while a lot of newer hardware burns out quickly (2-3 years after manufacture).

 

[lndm]

I have a 26 year old IBM and a 23 year old Commodore that still work. Quality of manufacture of parts is an issue. Typically capacitors are an issue.

Manufacture quality in the 70s and 80s was phenomenally good.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

That was a major selling point back then. Smaller user base might also have something to do with it. Nowadays, one customer isnt worth as much, while back in the 80's, for a smaller company, one customer may have been 1% of its business, which is quite a lot.

 

[MrPopov]

here's a great website full of this kind of stuff http://www.vintagecomputing.com/

 

[Perfection]

Yeah?? Well electronics types get a buzz out of it.

Not this one.

 

[lndm]

O K

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Our first computer, the Windows 95, cost a thousand bucks but we got it for free due to mom's college course. And then it crapped out, so we sent it back and they gave us the Windows 98 which we had until 2006, then we sold it. I think 50-100 dollars.

My mom also said she had another computer between the 95 and the 98 but she took it apart, couldn't reassemble it, and sold all the pieces. I don't remember it.

By the way, the Windows 98 was an IBM Aptiva.

 

[Fifty]

its so crazy because its like computers that arent even good by todays standards yet they're expensiver than today!!!!! SO ZANY!!!!!

 

[lndm]

Fifty,

Consider the research and development as some things were being done for the first time....things were also being made smaller than ever before.

There's also the changing attitudes toward these things with everyone having them these days combined with that making it a cut-throat business, and this leads to lower quality of manufacture.

Furthermore, computers are being used to design computers now in ways not done in the early days. Combined with general experience in designing them, things must be easier than before.

 

[Fifty]

Fifty,

Consider the research and development as some things were being done for the first time....things were also being made smaller than ever before.

There's also the changing attitudes toward these things with everyone having them these days combined with that making it a cut-throat business, and this leads to lower quality of manufacture.

Furthermore, computers are being used to design computers now in ways not done in the early days. Combined with general experience in designing them, things must be easier than before.

I still dont get it and I dont think u are doing a good job explaining!

How can computers that are BETTER now be CHEAPER than computers that are WORSE than they are??? It doesn't make sense and IMO those ads are probably photoshopped.

 

[Cutlass]

Those ads are not photoshopped. That's what computers used to cost.

 

[Turner]

I still dont get it and I dont think u are doing a good job explaining!

How can computers that are BETTER now be CHEAPER than computers that are WORSE than they are??? It doesn't make sense and IMO those ads are probably photoshopped.

Sure it makes sense. Same thing happened with cars. CD players, DVD players, VCRs, TVs... Look at how expensive they used to be. The longer they're around, the cheaper they get. Fifteen years ago you couldn't buy a portable CD player for less than $50, usually over $75 to $100, and now you can pick one up at Wal Mart for $10. Manufacturing gets cheaper and more efficient, design gets better. Just about any consumer item starts out this way and follows this path.

 

[Aramazd]

I don't think Fifty is serious, you guys.

 

[Turner]

You're kidding, right?



Fifty...serious....that's funny.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Except Apple stuff. It remains expensive as hell.

 

[Chieftess]

A label on a 500mhz computer I saw once bragged - "Never obsolete!".

 

[Turner]

And technically accurate too, if you never put any newer software on it than it has right then and there.

 

[Fifty]

Those ads are not photoshopped. That's what computers used to cost.

proof? I happen to know lots of photoshop and they look photoshopped to me... look at how poor the quality is!!! thats trademark photoshop.

Sure it makes sense. Same thing happened with cars. CD players, DVD players, VCRs, TVs...

four straight strawmen. i isn't talking about cd players dvd players vcrs or tvs.

Look at how expensive they used to be. The longer they're around, the cheaper they get. Fifteen years ago you couldn't buy a portable CD player for less than $50, usually over $75 to $100, and now you can pick one up at Wal Mart for $10. Manufacturing gets cheaper and more efficient, design gets better. Just about any consumer item starts out this way and follows this path.

economics 101... people will pay more for better products, if this product isnt better then why would they pay way more money for it? and dont even begin to talk to me about inflaction because you have it BACKWARDS

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Because computers weren't that common back then. And manufacturing wasn't as efficient as today. So it cost more to produce them, and that cost went on to the customer.

For example, when the Commorore 64 came out, it was pretty expensive. But it became popular, and manufacturing got more efficient, so the price was dropped to 200-300 dollars.

 

[Padma]

Fifty: while I'm sure you're just trolling, I will reply on the slim chance that you really are as ignorant as you're claiming.

Some of us are certainly old enough to remember these prices. In 1974, I bought my very first car, brand new, for about $4000. A few years later, I saw this really cool 'Apple Computer' thing in a store, for about $3000. Some years later, when I actually owned a computer, I used floppies, because, like I stated in my earlier post, "if I had the money for a new car, I'd buy a new car!"

You talk about Economics 101, yet you are forgetting Economy of Scale. When something is new, and it takes a lot of time and money to produce it (i.e., none of the components are available "off the shelf", you have to make everything from scratch), it will cost a lot more than later on, when you can manufacture them at the rate of thousands per day.